Birmingham's Veterans Day parade ready to march this afternoon

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Continuing a tradition started in 1947, Birmingham's Veterans Day parade will make its way through downtown this afternoon.

Before the parade, the day's events will begin with a 9 a.m. memorial service at the Cathedral Church of the Advent.

At 11 a.m., the World Peace Luncheon will be held at the BJCC with speaker Larry A. Polzin, national senior vice-commander of Disabled American Veterans.

The parade will start at 1:30 p.m. The two-hour parade includes 80 different entries.

Birmingham's Veterans Day celebration is the nation's oldest, predating the national holiday by seven years.

World War II veteran and Birmingham native Raymond Weeks in 1945 pioneered the concept and founded the nonprofit that continues to operate the celebration. The city's first celebration was held two years later.

Weeks then led a national effort to transform the observance of the end of World War I -- Armistice Day -- into a day to honor all veterans. In 1954, Congress made Veterans Day a national holiday.

Weeks headed the nonprofit for 36 years until his death in 1985.

After Weeks died, Bill Voigt, a veteran of the Air Guard and Air Force Reserve, took over as president until stepping down in 2010.

Jim Holt and Mark Ryan, owners of CSC Roofing in Homewood, in May stepped in to organize this year's event.

Voigt and Don Boomershine, who began serving as Voigt's vice president in 1988, will serve as co-marshals of the parade.